2012 Von Hövel Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese

Community Tasting Notes (9) Avg Score: 91.9 points

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  11/22/2018 - indiscriminate palate wrote: 91 Points

  Pineapple, peach, and flowers on the pronounced nose. Medium body. Honeyed pineapple, peach, and citrus skin on the palate; some bitter orange and grapefruit through the finish, with more apple skin appearing with air. Some Saar lime zest. High sweetness, but well balanced by the acidity. Overall, comes across quite primary right now, with pretty, linear fruit, but excellent structure and very good length; the sweet fruit yields to a long finish of pineapple, citrus, and mouth-watering acidity. Not overly complex yet, but so very gulpable and with great structure. Hold.

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  1/17/2018 - RGCM Gananda Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Prior bottle was just over seven months ago and this wine has started to open up and justify the initially high score I gave it. Opened at 47F, warming to 52F and was most expressive on the slightly warmer side. Still shows a good amount of tropical notes on the nose, but the peach and other mixed orchard fruits were more noticeable than I recall from the prior bottles. Medium bodied with peach initially, then more apple and pear notes (which I didn't have with the prior bottles) before switching to tropical (pineapple and orange) through the middle. Acidity and tart notes towards the back seem to be doing a better job of balancing out some of the richer, sweet-trending notes. Overall, felt like it was just beginning to open up and much as I enjoy the young rieslings for the vibrant fruit and stunning acidity, this wine was clearly still improving and nowhere near peak. Acidity here isn't electric, but it does conceal a good amount of what this wine will eventually show through the mid-body. Probably worth holding at least another year or two to allow the complexity to develop and should hold for several years beyond that.

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  9/19/2017 - Lahuebner Likes this wine:

  Sweet. Almost like a desert wine

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  6/24/2017 - ews3 wrote: 92 Points

  white peach, flowers, and ripe pear notes dominate here. still very youthful, this shows surprising depth and length. solid and at $22, a steal.

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  5/31/2017 - RGCM Gananda wrote: 92 Points

  My first bottle in just over a year and the wine has started to evolve as I had hoped. Opened at 44F, warming to 50F and again started off with a peach based nose that brought in more tropical notes as it warmed. Medium bodied (8.5% ABV) with roughly the same overall flavor profile as the prior bottle with mostly peach upfront, evolving towards tropical in the middle and back. Acidity comes in at this stage, leading the way into the mineral accented finish. Showed better integration between the fruit and acidity than prior bottle and overall, felt more complete. While that was a pleasant (if expected/hoped for) improvement, the wine doesn't have the level of complexity, density or acidity of the top 2012s. This is a very good wine that should continue to improve with additional cellar time, but it's lacking these few elements to make it truly special, especially from such a strong vintage.

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